Newslinks for Monday 29th May 2017

May sets out Brexit vision to ‘banish campaign wobble’…

“Theresa May is to offer voters a vision of how Britain will prosper outside the EU as she seeks to put the Tory election campaign back on track amid claims of infighting. The prime minister will return to the themes of her Lancaster House address – that Brexit will free the UK to build a fairer, richer society – in a keynote campaign speech tomorrow. The more positive message is intended to halt the drop in the Tory poll lead since the party promised to cut pensioner benefits and force thousands more to pay for social care in its manifesto. The Manchester attack a week ago came just after Mrs May caved into pressure from panicking Tory candidates to cap care costs, having first ruled out that option.” – The Times (£)

“Theresa May’s lurch to the left could damage Britain’s prospect of winning more trade deals after Brexit because it risks showing the Prime Minister is keen to intervene in the economy – rather than promoting the free market policies which match trade agreements. Trade experts caution that policies such as the energy price cap, the industrial strategy and a renewed target to slash immigration could tell the rest of the world that Britain is not truly open for business. “The challenge is going to be that some of the policy direction we’re hearing from the outgoing government and in the Conservative party manifesto around industrial policy is at odds with that open trading agenda,” warned Victoria Hewson, a lawyer at the Legatum Institute Special Trade Commission.” – Daily Telegraph

Charles Moore: May needs to send for an elite spin doctor

“When, as I still believe will happen, the Conservatives win this election, they must sort out how they present themselves to the world for the next five years. The campaign has revealed they are doing it wrong. You can always raise a cheer by attacking “spin”, but no modern government can succeed without being highly professional in the management of its messages… There is always a wobble in the middle of any Tory campaign. Usually it shocks the party into getting it right. My guess is that the same applies this time. But Mrs May urgently needs to see communication as an essential, daily function of government. At present, she seems to regard it as rare and unpleasant, like going to the dentist.” – Daily Telegraph

This election campaign has been a story of three acts (so far) – Joe Twyman, The Times (£)

Labour is full of promises but only May understands the country – Juliet Samuel, Daily Telegraph

How pollsters have changed their tactics – John Curtice, The Times (£)

Tories should avoid temptation to change the subject: this is the Brexit election – The Times (£)

Osborne accused of hypocrisy over migration pledge

“Iain Duncan Smith has accused George Osborne of hypocrisy for criticising the Conservatives’ plans for a cap on migration, claiming that it was originally the former chancellor’s idea. Mr Osborne, editor of the London Evening Standard, has used the newspaper to criticise Theresa May’s pledge to reduce net migration to no more than tens of thousands of people as “rash and economically illiterate”. Mr Duncan Smith, who resigned from the the cabinet last year after clashing with Mr Osborne over cuts to disability benefits, said that the former chancellor was behind the target’s inclusion in the party’s manifesto in 2010 under David Cameron.” – The Times (£)

May must acknowledge the costs of her immigration pledge – Philip Stephens, FT

Reduction in net migration is not ‘good news’ – Jonathan Portes, The Times (£)

Tories still don’t know how much people will need to pay for social care

“The Tories still do not know how their cap on the cost of social care will work, it emerged today. The Home Secretary said she was “not sure” how much elderly people who need care will have to pay. And senior Conservatives denied the suggestion that the party had been divided by the controversial policy. Theresa May made a U-turn after initially announcing that people needing care would have to pay for it until they are down to £100,000 of assets.” – The Sun

Wallace attacks tech bosses who won’t collaborate against extremism

“Only 270,000 extremist images have been scrubbed from the internet since 2010 as tech titans fail to help crackdown on terror. Security Minister Ben Wallace blasted “duplicitous” online firms such as Facebook and Google for selling users’ personal data yet refusing to assist the authorities with investigations. In an attack on trendy tech bosses, he raged: “Sitting on a bean-bag wearing a T-shirt doesn’t make you some freedom-loving hippie. “They love their shareholdings, their super yachts and their billions.” He called managers “ruthless money-makers” who thought nothing of flogging their users’ personal information.” – The Sun

“Yet more damning evidence emerged last night of Jeremy Corbyn’s decades of apologising for terror as it was revealed he paid tribute to the mastermind of a massacre. Just a year before becoming Labour leader, Mr Corbyn laid a wreath at the grave of a Palestinian terrorist involved in the massacre at the Munich Olympics. The revelation came as he was finally forced to admit he had met convicted IRA terrorists as the controversy over his support for the group intensified.” – Daily Mail

Corbyn 2) Election ‘isn’t the end of the Corbyn project’

“Those hoping Jeremy Corbyn will step down as leader of the Labour party if the Conservatives win the general election are in for a disappointment. One of Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet ministers has said that this is “not the end of the Corbyn project” and that he will stay on no matter the result. According to BuzzFeed, shadow minister Ian Lavery, Labour’s election coordinator, told the crowd at a rally in Glasgow that we can look forward to more time with Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.” – Daily Telegraph

Watson hits out at the Conservatives over attacks on Corbyn – The Guardian

Corbyn 3) Sturgeon hints that she could help put him in Number Ten

“Nicola Sturgeon today renewed her threat to use the election as a way of breaking up the United Kingdom – as she revealed she would join an alliance to block the Tories from staying in power. The leader of the SNP said a vote for her party would ‘reinforce’ the case for an independent Scotland. And she to join forced with other parties to try to keep Theresa May out of Downing Street if the Tories do not win an overall majority on June 8. Her threat to join a ‘progressive alliance’ means she could hand the keys to No 10 to Jeremy Corbyn – despite describing him as not a credible leader.” – Daily Mail

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